Beautiful
by thisisawittypenname
Summary: 2 chapter Snickers Fluff A day off lead Nick to reflect: what were people like in high school? Rated for two words. Complete
1. Chapter 1

Title: Beautiful

Disclaimer: Do you take some sort of twisted pleasure in my pain? It's not mine…

satisfied?

Rated: For two words

Summary: A day off lead Nick to reflect: what were people like in high school?

A/N: I didn't know this at the time I wrote this, but the writers of CSI already did a "what people were like" kind of scene in the episode "Bully for You". So lets just pretend for the next 10 minutes (or however long it takes you to read this) that they didn't, 'kay? Cool. Hope you guys like it.

Also, I'll try to update soon, but from now on, weekends are probably going to be the only time I'll get a chance to post new stuff. Just started my second semester of schools, which means new classes, which means I'll actually have homework I need to do this time. :D

Days off were always appreciated around the lab; the precious few days when crime could wait because there was shopping to be done and restaurants to be visited and chores to be done.

Having a day off was like having one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets, and it was even better when someone else had the same night off as you. Because then there were supervisors to gossip about and co-workers to wonder about, and (in Nick and Warrick's case) football games to be watched in Warrick's living room on his new television.

Warrick cheered, pumping his arms in the air as his team scored another touchdown. Nick just shot him a sour look, grabbing some chips from the bowl on the table in front of him as the TV announcer decided to rub salt in Nick's wounds:_ "**Another** touchdown for the Rams, making the score 24 to 3 as we come up on halftime. Dallas is really taking a beating today, folks…"_

A deafening mix of both cheers and boos erupted from the crowd at the comment, and the game cut to commercial. Warrick took a swig of the beer he'd been drinking since the start of the game, draining what little was left. He swished the bottle around, as if it would suddenly refill, before pushing himself off the couch. He grabbed Nick's empty bottle, rolling his eyes as he heard the Texan mutter something about a "luck play or two". Warrick shoot his head and headed for the kitchen.

"You want anther beer, man?" Warrick called out from the kitchen, grabbing a bottle for himself and one for Nick, anticipating his co-worker's answer.

"Yeah, thanks 'Rick" came the reply.

Warrick sauntered back into his living room, tossing Nick one of the bottles before collapsing on his couch. Seeing the commercial break had not yet ended, he decided to goad Nick about his team's awful showing.

"No problem" Warrick grinned smugly, taking a drink before continuing, "I know that _I_ for one wouldn't want to be sober if I had to witness my team getting their asses handed to 'em…"

Nick protested defensively, "Hey, hey, even the best teams have an off game now and then!"

"More like an off _season_" Warrick chuckled.

"They haven't been doing that badly…" Nick countered, grabbing another handful of chips.

"Whatever, man. We both know football's just a sore spot with you because you didn't make the team back in high school" Warrick teased.

"Hey, I'll have you know in _my_ school, baseball was the cool sport, and you're looking at All-State pitcher three years in a row" Nick informed his friend, puffing his chest out a bit in pride.

Warrick nodded knowingly, "So Catherine was right: you were a jock."

"What?" asked a confused Nick. "You two were talking about what I was like in high school?"

"Well, someone's got a healthy ego" Warrick laughed smugly before explaining. "We had time to kill" he shrugged, "And decided to amuse ourselves by guessing what people were like in high school. We got through Ecklie and Doc Robbins, when we got to you. Catherine bet you were a jock, and before I could get my two cents in, Greg paged us with our results."

"Alright man, then what about you? Who were you back in the day?" Nick challenged, munching contentedly on his chips.

"Big trouble" Warrick revealed, grinning. "Popular enough, I guess but… my Grandma always used to call me her work in progress."

"Impressive" teased Nick.

All pretense of watching the football game, including riding Nick about the abysmal state of his team, were forgotten as the two now turned their discussion towards their co-workers.

"I bet Catherine was the popular girl" Nick mused aloud, "Social butterfly."

"Sounds like her" Warrick agreed. "I bet she was the one who always gave advice to anyone and everyone."

Nick nodded, before thinking aloud, "I wonder what Greg was."

"Probably the only nerd on the chess team to listen to heavy metal" Warrick guessed, laughing good-naturedly as the image of a young Greg Sanders, sporting braces, thick glasses, and plaid pants rocked out to Metallica flooded his mind.

"Archie's easy: AV geek" Nick offered thoughtfully. "David was probably the real quiet kid. What about Grissom?"

"Probably the kid always chasing after bugs and spouting off cryptic phrases" Warrick supplied with a smile.

"Yeah, I could see that" admitted Nick, grinning.

The room quieted for a moment, Warrick's eyes flitting to the TV and Nick taking a large gulp of his beer. It wasn't until a few minutes later, when Warrick's team easily intercepted a long pass, Nick spoke;

"What about Sara?"

Warrick stifled a smug chuckle; it had always been fairly obvious to everyone, besides, of course, Nick and Sara, that the Texan had been carrying a torch for her for quite some time. The aforementioned pair was also equally oblivious to the fact that, when Nick was near, Sara's smile was just a bit bigger than normal, her attitude a bit more flirtatious.

So naturally, Warrick, along with the rest of the lab, was curious as to when the usually observant CSIs would figure it out. With this thought in his mind, Warrick decided to put the ball back in Nick's court:

"I don't know…she's kind of tough to peg. What do you think?"

Nick stiffened as Warrick turned the question back at him. He thought of Sara being so many different things' how could he explain to Warrick? And as he though of exactly what to say, images of Sara came unbidden to his mind.

He'd always found her stunningly attractive; she was different than all of the girls he dated back in Texas. She wasn't afraid to have smudges of grease decorate her face and cheeks after dissecting a car. She was tough and assertive and sarcastic, and Nick just couldn't help himself from striking up a flirty banter with her. Though she always responded positively, Nick was always left with mixed emotions. Elation; they'd flirted shamelessly, she'd smiled at him in a way she'd never smiled at anyone else. Crushing defeat; (he thought) there could never be more.

To him, Sara would always be that one person who could reduce him to a bumbling, awkward teenage boy; a bumbling, awkward **_hormone-ridden_** teenage boy, plagued by butterflies and weak knees whenever she was around. He bet she'd been that girl that everyone loved, but the girl that everyone had been too intimidated by to actually ask her out.

To him, she still was.

Nick blinked his eyes deliberately, pulling himself out of his silent musings to find an amused looking Warrick, still waiting for an answer.

Nick coughed, feeling his face redden. "I bet…" he started, "I bet she was…"

And when Nick completed that sentence with just one word and an embarrassed expression, Warrick clapped him on the back, chuckling, "Damn, bro, you've got it bad."

A/N: One more chapter to go… tell me what you think or you'll never hear from me again! Ok, so I'm kidding, but reviews _do_ make me giggly with delight:D


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Beautiful

Disclaimer: Blah blah, not mine, blah blah

Rated: For two words (in the previous chapter :D)

Summary: A day off lead Nick to reflect: what were people like in high school?

A/N: Second and final chapter. I don't really know what I was thinking with the whole Willy Wonka scenario, but… I'll chalk it off as lack of sleep. Hope you guys like!

The thing about days off from the lab was that they always ended with grocery shopping left undone and restaurants left unvisited. Any football games would have, of course, been supplied undivided attention, as it should be.

In some ways, the day after a day off was like Willy Wonka himself tearing your Golden Ticket in two, and having two jacked up Oompa Loompas throw you out of the factory. But if you were returning the same day as a co-worker, you were guaranteed only _half_ the slack from those who'd worked, and were not _too_ overburdened with cases or evidence to catch up on.

As it was, Nick and Warrick could have taken today off as well; the most serious case that came in was a wealthy woman (with whom Sheriff Mobley shared an important political relationship) reported her tiny little dog "Chihuahua-knapped". Grissom, in an effort to evade the mountainous stack of paperwork threatening to bury his desk, offered to work the case solo. The rest of the team either relaxed in the break room, or wandered the halls with no real purpose.

Among the four of them (Greg had been sent off to a seminar just two days ago), Catherine was the only one wandering the hallways, stopping in the break room occasionally to chat, but otherwise content to amble around the labs.

This let Nick, Sara, and a rather smug looking Warrick lounging in comfortable silence in the break room.

Warrick was the first to break it.

"So… Sara?" he asked, his tall fame leaning casually against he counter near the coffee pot, "Wanna play a game?"

Sara quirked an eyebrow from her seat on the couch, shifting to face Warrick. Behind her, seated on the next cushion, an alert Nick shot a warning glare at Warrick, who chose to ignore it, instead pouring himself some coffee.

"What kind of game?"

Nick, sensing _exactly_ what type of game his friend was planning, waved his arms frantically, signaling for Warrick to stop. But he just ploughed on; "Nick and I played it just last night. You just pick a person, say… Nicky, here, for example, and try to guess what they were like in high school. You in?"

Nick slumped his shoulder in defeat, but Sara didn't notice. "Sure. Sounds… well, sounds like something you two'd come up with after a couple of beers, but why not?"

"Cool" Warrick nodded. "I vote Nick was a baseball star."

"I'll bet he was a jock" Catherine offered, poking her head inside the break room inquisitively before leaning against the doorway. "Won't ruin my chances like Warrick by getting too specific" she jibed, grinning at him.

Nick blushed a bit sheepishly as Sara turned to give him a once over; if she noticed (which he was sure she did) she didn't say anything, instead deciding, "Frat-boy type, definitely."

Warrick raised and eyebrow at Nick, asking, "So who's closest?"

Nick failed at concealing a grin as he gestured towards Warrick, "'Rick is…pitcher on the team all four years."

Catherine shook her head, conceding defeat as she walked back down the hallway. Warrick grinned smugly, but Sara seemed to mull something over (for all of one second) before declaring, "Wait! You guys said you played this last night…so you obviously know your guys' own answers!" She watched the two of them, noting the guilty expressions that settled on both of their faces. "Well, that's cheating, isn't it?" she asked, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Fine" Warrick grinned, "You've caught us. We just won't guess about Nick or me. So that leaves you, girl." He grinned, grabbing his cup of coffee and gravitating towards the door. "As I'm sure Nick will tell you," he glanced at his Texan co-worker, who appeared deeply embarrassed with a definite blush forming on the back of his neck, "I didn't put in a guess last night. Just couldn't decide. But Nick had a very interesting idea that I'm sure he'd _love_ to share with you."

Warrick shot a meaningful look at Nick before heading out the door. "I'm gonna go see what Catherine's up to."

And that left just Sara and Nick in the break room.

Alone.

Sara cocked her head, a curious expression on her face as she took in the uncomfortable look of her co-worker. "What was all that about? What did you say?"

Nick sighed, "If I tell you, you'll have to promise not to laugh. Or get pissed" he added as an afterthought.

"Scout's honor" she smirked.

Nick took a deep breath, refusing to meet her gaze. "I told Warrick," he said quietly, "That I though you were, back in high school…

Beautiful."

Sara let out a soft, surprised gasp as Nick finished, "Because you still are."

His eyes leveled with hers, and they both leaned towards each other, unaware of it until they were a few inches apart.

"Sara" Nick whispered solemnly – they were so close she could feel his breath on her lips as he spoke – "I think, if you don't mind, I'm going to kiss you now."

She just closed her eyes and nodded, words escaping her at the moment, and without any further hesitation, Nick leaned forward, closing what little distance there was between them as his lips crashed against hers unapologetically.

And lurking just outside the break room door, Warrick and Catherine exchanged very knowing glances, a smug looking Catherine mouthing, "Told you that stupid game idea would work."

A/N: Let me know what you thought :D


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